Drag City Film Distribution announces the theatrical run of THE SOURCE FAMILY (previously titled The Source), the feature length documentary directed by Maria Demopoulos and Jodi Wille about Father Yod and The Source Family’s radical experiment in ’70s utopian living. The Source Family’s outlandish lifestyle, popular celebrity hangout restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip; but their outsider ideals and controversial spiritual leader, Father Yod, instigated local authorities. Yod was a visionary health food restaurateur, war hero, and judo champion who had thirteen wives and fronted the now legendary psych band Ya Ho Wa 13. The family fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise. Years later, family members surface and the rock band reforms, revealing how the experience shaped their lives in the most unexpected ways. This treasure trove of interviews with never-before-seen home movies, photographs, and original music created by The Source Family themselves, provides an unparalleled insider’s view into the cult/commune phenomenon and wildly outside-the-box social experimentation of the early ’70s – as well as a being a wholly unique California story.

THE SOURCE FAMILY, then titled The Source, was selected to world-premiere as one of eight documentary feature films in competition at SXSW 2012 and has played numerous festivals since, including sold-out screenings at SXSW, Silverdocs, Hot Docs Doc Soup, San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Seattle Film Festival. Other festivals and special screenings include the True/False Boon Dawdle and Burning Man.